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I'm not going to saying that scamming is more lucrative to making money on the internet then selling products, but going into that grey area where you can make money at the expense of another might be the way to go.
I have already figured out that Google and others are NOT on the side of merchants at all. I don't know either since we fund everyone's profits.
I think it would be better for merchants to do away with whatever stores they have and get in with the click frauders. They are the ones winning and Google is not on the Merchant's side.
What could be better, you don't have to carry inventory, you don't have to establish relationships with wholesalers, you dont have to market. All you have to is have a website and find creative ways of clicking your own ads on your site or join up with those paid to read programs that fleece merchants at the blessing of Google. It is at the blessing of google because they wont combat it and if you as a merchant complain about it, google will punish YOU. So the scam artists have Google on their side.,
As of yet, my web sites that have used Adwords have been removed from Google's directory as punishment for complaining about their adwords program. This is the way Google believes the problem of clickfraud will go away, just delist and destroy the merchant who complains about clickfraud and no one will bother them.
Well, anyway, I am thinking of getting these programs that mask your IP address and then just run this program to click my own ads at the expense of the adwords advertisers. It surely is more lucrative than joining the adwords program that was marketed to me as "Start making sales in 15 minutes". It is better to scam Merchants because if you do, Google is on your side and will only penalize the merchant, which is awesome. I am thinking of purchasing this software:
The best part of this software is that Google can't determine whether it is fraud if I use it properly, spread out the clicks, etc. I can be rolling in the dough without doing anything and if the merchants complain....Google will punish THEM!!!!! Can't beat this system!
There are literally hundreds of scripts available on the internet that allows for people to generate fake hits to their web sites or elements contained on their web sites such as links, banners or Google AdSense programs.
http://www.bigwebmaster.com/2010.html
I-Faker sends as many unique hits a day as your server can handle. Using PHP, it routes HTTP get requests through a massive list of anonymous proxy servers which can be defined by you. Even banners on your site get impressions. It is not only a fake hit generator, but it can in conjunction with the alexa tracker improve your alexa rankings. All the traffic sent by the fake traffic PHP script is unique and shows up as unique in your website and server stats. The script can be configured to run for as long as you wish.
http://www.bigwebmaster.com/2429.html
Fake Hits Genie is used to generate 1000's of unique fake hits using a list of proxies to any URL you choose. It works by sending fake http_get requests to the site or banner of your choice through a large list of unique proxies. Features include: Upload and Delete proxies directly from Fake Hits Genie; Random browser and OS selection (user agents); You can set the Max users per hour; You can set the total Max users Send fake hits to unlimited targets at the same time; Weekly Updated Proxy list; Fast and portable; Full Source Code included.
Wow, and Google has a foolproof system??????
Anyway, I am on the verge of a class action lawsuit with Google and their click fraud allies who are robbing merchants blind!
If you are considering Google Adwords, you are asking to get your wallet picked. Buyer Beware....Google is NOT on YOUR side!
The threat really lies with Google. They can continue to act like its not a problem and pass the costs on to the advertiser or deal with the problems and join the side of the advertiser. They choose to fuck us over.
[link=http://]http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6830802/site/newsweek/[/link]
[link=http://]http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/02/technology/google_fraud/?cnn=yes[/link]
I found some clickfraud specialists. Since Google is passing the buck onto their customers in terms of bilking us, I decided that the best route to take is to hire an auditor to fight Google. From my research it looks like this scummy Google even denies clickfraud when you hire a professional. Unbelieveable, someone from congress should step in and charge Google with racketeering. This is a crime.
Gotta love this one. I complained to google about their Adword fraud. Basically I notified them that no matter how hard they try they cannot prevent fraud. Even with their "dedicated team" and "super duper fraud protection" that we are all left wondering about since they dont really tell you how they identify fraud. Especially when they have already been duped and had to sue someone for duping them.
Well, Google decided to drop TWO of my web sites off their search engine. I no longer exist for the main one I was complaining about nor do I exist for another web site that I didnt use Adwords for. This is the kind of public company we are dealing with. The type of company that is making hundreds of millions off of small business owners and then punishing them when they question their services.
To top it off, all of a sudden I am now receiving emails from some unknown party that contains viruses. After my complaint with Google I am now recieivng up to 5-6 emails that contain a virus that says "Microsoft" update patch. Seems pretty coincidental if you ask me. But of course I have no idea of knowing who those emails came from. Just pretty suspicious that all this occured over the weekend.
They also dropped me from Froogle.
Another name for what Google did to me? Highway robbery. They just wont admit that there is fraud built into Google Adwords and there is nothing they can do about it, Nothing. These click frauds are one step ahead of them and instead of eating the costs, these guys are passing those costs on to the webmasters and small business owners and they dont give a fuck about it.
If you are thinking about Google adwords, understand this. Lets say there are 10 competitors in your realm for Adwords. If each of them click 10 times a month on your ad and you bid $1 per click. You are automatically paying $100 for nothing per month and Google wouldn't pick up shit on it. Add in all the Adsense parasites and now multiply that amount by a 100. Afterall these parasite are making MORE MONEY THEN YOU ARE WITH THEIR ADSENSE accounts for DOING NOTHING! While your sorry ass is trying to run a business, gather inventory, make contacts with distributors, ship products and everything else involved in running a business.
I was a former customer of Google Adwords and I will never use them again. The whole system is prone to fraud and abuse at the hands of people out to steal money from advertisers. If you want to literally get robbed as a small business owner ? use Google Adwords.
How does Google Adwords work? Let?s say you have a web site and are finding it unable to trick the web search engines into placing your into the number one spot, you can pay the search engine based on a bidding process to list you in a special section on the front page of a particular key word search. Each time someone clicks on it, you pay the amount that you have bidded to get into the top spot. In my case I bid approximately $1 per click, it didn?t get me on the top of the sponsored list, but got me in about the 2nd or 3rd position.
Sounds fine right? You will naturally gain some business and hopefully will come away with a profit. Not so fast. Google is not on the business owner?s side in this service. Google also offers something called Adsense. Adsense is a program that allows content web site owners and blogs make money by having a little advertising box on their web site and when their visitors click on those ads, they will make a certain amount from each click.
So, place your ad in google and then google will place your ad in their search engine as well as all these content web sites and blogs that have Adsense ads on them. Whenever anyone clicks on these Ads at Google OR the content web sites and blogs the business owner is charged for it.
This opens the system up to total abuse. These bloggers and others have setup intricate systems from clicking on each others ads to generate revenue for each other. Each of those clicks costs ME $1. You can go around to message boards and see these scams at various ?Make money from home? web sites. Some of these parasites are making close to $2,000 a month.
There is absolutely no way Google can stop this fraud despite their legal canned response. They can?t. They can only identify mass fraud and clickthroughs, they cannot stop these small time operations when they engage in a keyword to attack and rob the advertiser from.
Plus, it has already been proven that people are able to totally defeat Google?s fraud protection, Google is currently suing someone for it now. So they can?t protect business owners from fraud. It?s impossible.
If you use Google Adwords, you will have to put up with the fact that up to 30% of the clicks you get will either be from your competitors trying to knock you off or through these parasites who have Adsense accounts and are robbing you through click schemes. There is nothing that can be done about it either and there is no way Google can prevent it. It?s basically built into the system.
The bad part here is that Google doesn?t offer the webmaster using Adwords a 30% discount, they pass on the fraud costs to the web site owner. Trust me I know, according to Google, not a single click on my ad was fraudulent. I have had over 20,000 clicks on my ad. Sounds remarkable huh? Google is not offering me a discount from the $20,000+ I have spent with them and now I want to sue them.
So if any webmaster out there feels like they have been abused by Google Adwords or there are any attorneys willing to take this case, I would like to hear from you. If you have evidence of Google?s incompetence in fighting fraud I would also like to hear from you. This scam is costing leigitimate web site owners thousands and thousands of dollars.
If you want to get together to fight back against Google, please email me at googlefraud@aol.com or visit the Google Adwords fraud blog at http://googleadwords.blogeasy.com. Wanna know what is funny, my blog service uses google adwords and there is a button there that says, ?Make Money? and it links to how you can get an Adsense account on your blog. Think there it is possible that abuse can occur here? According to Google?no.
Maybe I will open an Adsense account, it sure is easier making money by stealing it rather than by opening a store and carrying inventory.
I found this at http://www.stopclickfraud.com
SOMEONE'S MAKING A LOT OF MONEY FROM YOUR PPC BUDGET
WHAT A PITY IT ISN'T YOU
"Have you ever wondered where all your non-converting traffic is coming from?"
This article explains where your Pay-Per-Click advertising (PPC) budget really ends up.
I really don't know why people bother with PPC engines when all their advertising money ends up here anyway.
-Carole Stacey, Paid-to-Read program owner
The Paid To Read Email biz, IS In Fact, a ppc Parisite, and I Really think we'd All do ourselves, And our Industry a Great Service, if we were to, On a Mass Scale, Accept this, if somewhat putrid, Stark Reality. -MadMeikal, member of Paid-to-Read programs
A little background
I was using several of the top feeds to advertise various affiliate and lead generation programs when I noticed that my results were steadily worsening to the point where the advertising was becoming unprofitable.
Being somewhat technically inclined, I traced back the logs - to smaller "partner engines" - but I still couldn't figure out where they were getting their terrible-quality traffic from. There was a lot of it, but there were no specific usage spikes pointing to click fraud and nothing I could complain about - and all the while my accounts were steadily dwindling to the point where I had to pull them because all my ad money was being wasted with nothing to show for it.
I started looking into alternative advertising, and found something called "Paid-to-Read-E-mail" (PTR) that promised targeted advertising to an interested user base.
Well, mailing lists are cool, right? Just to be on the safe side, I joined some programs to see what was being advertised through them - always good advice to keep up on what's being repeatedly advertised through programs, right?
I also found a forum dedicated to this "industry," as it likes to call itself.
And suddenly I realized where all my non-converting traffic was coming from.
Much of the information here has been compiled by both joining Paid-to-Read programs myself, and by reading through Getpaidforum.com and quoting comments made by members.
Usernames on that forum are not readily traceable back to "offline" identities. Where possible I have traced back usernames of Paid-to-Read (PTR) program owners. Quotes in this article are attributed to forum usernames. The quotes have been left "as is," without correction to grammar or spelling.
Problem Summary
1. Intro - PPC Profit Sharing.
A nice idea in theory, offer an incentive for webmasters to place search boxes on their web sites.
2. Feeds.
Offer a way to bid on PPC placement on multiple search engines since their results feed out to many smaller engines.
3. Third-Tier Search Engines.
Accept search feed results from the larger feeds to supplement their own results.
4. Affiliates of These Engines.
Get a share of the profits based on click-through rates, with a higher profit share for people who deliver more traffic through their sites.
5. PTR.
People being paid to be traffic. Nobody takes this crap seriously, do they?
The Scale of the Disaster
Because the PPC engine affiliates found out that relying on natural traffic wasn't making much money, they turned to PTRs (Paid-to-Reads) to pay people for searching through their affiliate links.
To be honest Mike, we aren't getting paid to read, we are in fact getting paid to search as with most sites. And I believe the results are getting worse because of the sheer volume of search ads being sent. There are just so many searches to do on a daily basis. I am in about 20-30 sites [PTRs] now and cannot complete all the searches I receive as I reach my limit. - PTR program member
This affects all search engines out there, including Google. Some members have also seen redirects on "search links" going through srv.perf.overture.
How many people are involved? How many searches are the result of people being paid to click on your PPC link? This PDF file contains the numbers from the PTR programs using CashCrusader, the most popular PTR script.
From CashCrusader:
Currently there are 1,528 sites actively running CashCrusader scripts, with 3,053,261 members being served. Presently, the largest site powered by CashCrusader scripts has 34,236 members.
There are other scripts in use at PTRs as well, such as Create Your Get Paid, albeit they have considerably smaller numbers of users.
There are over 300 "smaller search engines," all of which use the top feeds. Most of the smaller search engines have no advertisers of their own.
PTR site memberships range from 500 for the smaller programs to around 40,000 for the larger ones. Here is an example of a typical PTR site, with an average membership. Here is what the average "mailbox" in that PTR looks like. Bear in mind that each e-mail received is generally comprised of more than one search.
As you can see from this example, there are over 6,000 members in this Paid-to-Read program, receiving approximately 25 search ads each per day. This results in 150,000 potential fradulent search engine clicks per day, from one mid-size PTR program alone. Multiply that number by 2000 sites, and you'll have a fair idea of just how many fraudulent clicks are happening per day from PTRs.
This is just one site. Download this file (8 megs, zipped) to see more examples of such sites and search portals. For the sake of completeness, I have compiled several relevant discussions that have taken place at Getpaidforum.com, but the files are simply too large to post here (about 26 megs total, compressed). These files are available upon request by writing to ppcfraud@marketingcynic.com
Do people really search for pay?
The money earned in Paid-to-Read programs would be less than pocket change for most of us - most often less than a penny per click. But there are a lot of folks out there - disabled, students, pensioners - who need every penny they can scrape together to get by. PTR is not just a hobby. Nor is it confined to third-world countries. Most third-world countries are banned from participating in PTR searches - only people from those countries deemed "search-friendly" are allowed to participate in many PTRs - this is one of the things that helps make your traffic look more "real."
When you look at the screenshots of the Paid-to-Read site inboxes, you'll see that 98% or more of the paid mails are searches - in almost all of the programs. If members don't search, they will never earn enough to get paid. It's that simple.
Many PTR members belong to 20 to 100+ sites, and receive 20 or more search links from each site every day. The numbers aren't 2000 * 2k members, or 4,000,000. It's closer to 100,000 members counted multiple times, and all these people, at least the ones who live in "search-friendly" countries (USA, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand), are searching, day in and day out.
Do the people who send the search ads to PTRs know that they're participating in click fraud?
i can't wait until we are able to stop sending admin searches. we've cut down on the number of links drastically. after reading some of your posts, i get a lump in my throat when i click send.
-Tracy Burns, Paid-to-Read program owner
By placing their advertising budgets 100% with the feeds, they've forced the ptr webmasters to depend on the search engines for lack of advertisers. All i'm saying is look in the mirror, people who live in glass houses, shouldn't be throwing stones.
-Carole Stacey explains why she feels you're forcing her to advertise PPC search engines
My first google check was $1200. My second was $2200. They owed me $900 when they cancelled or suspended because too many so called invalid clicks.. The reason was that stupid me had google as a popup for every paid link of mine. and members wanting to support the site etc, were continaullay clicking on the few ads that were displayed.
-Carole Stacey on Google Adsense
There are some days where the keyword adult is top payer for the day...those ads are strickly targeted to those that checked both the adult box and the search box, there are days when cash is a good key word, those get targeted to members that have clicked both personal finances and search...I try to target as much as possible so that members get what they checked in their intrest boxes...
-Julie Kirkpatrick, owner of Paid-to-Read program and search engine advertiser
I'm a member of Mistyandsams [PTR program] and I click on all of them search ads, plus I also click on most search keywords [the portals sent out to PTRs often are "customized" with high-bid keywords for people to click on] to make the advertisers happy (not to mention more money) such as:
I always click on [search result] #1 position (more money)
Forex (Omegasearch.net - #1 position is at 0.33 cents per click)
web hosting
online dating
online gambling
online poker
Just to name a few, so keep 'em comin' boys and girls and I just keep on searchin'
-Paul Penafiel, PTR member and search engine advertiser
does she Cheat the Searchengines? i don't think so, but come down from your high horse, if you get paid then why should you care? -coolx
Do average PTR members know about the click fraud they're participating in?
Right, they're paying for the ad, so if it's not too much trouble, I like to help them make a return on their investment. -Nikanji
my next question is this. is it wrong of me to select search as an option if I don't plan on searching? -Ryan
Yes this is wrong. you are cheating the person that paid for the ad. If you dont want to search you [should] not check to receive sersches in your interests.
-Phyliss Williams, Paid-to-Read program owner
in a nutshell yes it is wrong to opt in to search, and have no intention to do any [searches]. If you are and you receive targetted searches, then you should search. If you don't want to search, then you shouldn't click the link. -Sarsons
If they stop sending search links, how would the webmasters make money. Right now, ptr depend on search engines. Advertising real products dont work, because nobody wants to buy stuff. They are trying to make money, not loose money. -slik300
Wow... Ryan looks to me like you are really really taking advantage of me and my Sites. Because of that, I will be unselecting "Search" and "Searches" in my sites for you. This has nothing to do with me or my Admin searchs, as they are Optional in each mail. I however will not have you cheating my advertisers. And sitting here BLATANTLY announcing your doing such.. All i need is 2 or 3 hundred of you and Nobody will get paid because, lol We'll have ZERO advertisers. I am real sure I'll get blasted for Saying any of this and thats all fine..You click admin Searches and not search.. I couldnt care less, But i will not have you Cheating my advertisers.
-Michael Laskey, owner of several Paid-to-Read programs and search engine owner
I understand and agree with you 100% on this Michael but it just impossible to get thru to some people. They want to click the link so they get paid but they dont want to do a valid search so that you have satisfied customers who pay you and than you in turn get the money to pay us who are in your program??? -slik300
Clearly most clickers don't realize the big picture; they don't think beyond the search affiliate advertisers and trying to make them happy, as the search affiliate advertisers are the ones paying them to be traffic.
Some of them do realize what they're doing, but keep on regardless.
The 'Real Advertiser', (Not an advertiser at a ptr prog), Pays Cash to a 'Company' called a 'FEED Provider', to get Targetted Keyword Specific Traffic to their Website: -This is done by 'Bidding' on 'Keywords', the Higher the bid, the Higher up towards the top of the list of results generated, when a person searches for that keyword.
The 'Feed Providers', (there are only a handfull of them), ''farm out'' these 'results' or 'matchups' to the ppc se's. (Pay Per Click Search Engines), there are Hundreds of these thingys out there.
The ppc SE owners, All use an 'affiliate structure', to get Clicks on their portal pages. They PAY their 'affiliates' a % of the bidded amount of the keywords clicked on by the searcher. the % is Very High. Most of the money ppc se's bring In, goes back out to their affiliates.
So, the Feed Pays the SE, ONLY AFTER the Site for the keyword has been Clicked, and visited, and The SE Pays the Affiliate, that Sent that clicker, that clicked the link.
Many SE 'Affiliates' 'Advertise' their portal pages at ptr programs. Their hope is, that they will get enough clicks, on high ranking keywords, to Earn More at the SE they are an affiliate of, than they Spent, for the ad at the ptr.
Again, there is Only ONE Big Loser here, and it IS the Real Advertiser, Paying the Shot, for Feed, SE, PTR PO [Paid-to-Read Program Owner], PTR Advertiser, AND PTR Clicker, that clicks the link, and Does the search, in Most cases I'd assert, it's a blind click.
Again, there ARE a few that Do Only do Valid, And Legitimate searches, and the Real Advertiser Likely is Glad to see them, I'd assert they are in a Desperatly undernourished minority in ptr.
So, going 'UP' the 'foodchain', MO clicks the 'ptr-advertisers' portal page link, and GETS Cash from the ptr for Doing it.
-MO clicks a Result, and lets the page load, so the 'ptr-advertiser' GETS Paid Cash, from the ppc se they advertised. (So they'll Come Back).
-The 'ptr-advertiser' just GAVE the ppc se a Little more money in the ppc se owners account with the Feed that Provided the Result MO clicked.
-The Feed GETS to Deduct the 'Real Advertisers' account the amount of the Bid on the keyword MO clicked on, and takes Their cut out, before Paying the SE Owner.
-The 'Real Advertiser' GETS, SCREWED
hope that Helps. -MadMeikal
and now bkoxefwo has gotten me thinking about how when i do search i'm actually ripping off the people advertising with the SE because i honestly have no interest at all in what i'm searching for. i'm just clicking to complete the search. -Girrl88
Which search engines are exposed to this?
All of them - from Google AdWords and Overture on down - there is nowhere you can advertise that these PTR fraud clicks won't come to click on your ads so that they'll get paid.
How much money is lost each month to PTR click fraud?
I'm waiting for the $4,900 that CoolWebSearch owes me for the last 14 days.
-Carole Stacey, Paid-to-Read program owner
Keep in mind that this is one affiliate's payment from one engine, from one program with only 2000 members - less than one-tenth the size of some of the big programs. Carole owns searchdabest.com, among other sites, which contains her affiliate links to over 200 search engines she's personally promoting in various venues.
It has always seemed to me like the search deal is a sort of wink-wink nudge-nudge thing where the PO's [program owners] are hinting really hard that they'd like us to do something they can't quite come out and ask us to do. Kinda reminds me of a scene in a video on sexual harrassment they show at some companies. -Meroveus
Do the feeds know?
Clearly they do. Ah-ha recently banned a number of PTR programs and some of the smaller search engines owned by PTR program owners from using their results, including Mec-co-op-Paidmail.com, owned by Carole Stacey, and the search engine FindatLast, owned by Michael Laskey.
You're failing to see that feeds DO come in here...but of course you wouldnt know that first hand yet...I guess you would have to trust me lach and the others who have had our search engines discussed in this forum and it has effected our businesses. People cant just talk about who pays in here they have to ask about the highest bids if paid emails are allowed if PTCs are allowed HELLO thats all incentive and NO feed likes that period...I really dont think its all that hard to grasp
- Proph3cy, Search engine owner and advertiser
LOL You think wrong unfortunately Perhaps once you gain experience in running engines and use larger feeds you will understand. Understand everyone that this is a public forum and there are things we cannot post here, I've done my best to provide an explanation none the less.- Lachlann McGregor, Search engine owner and hosting provider
The feeds clamp down on the se's Just Enough to calm the real advertisers at times, and we see occasionally Mass Crackdowns. The SE's, In Turn, tighten the screws on the ptr po's [program owners], to Cover their dexteriors with the feeds, and the ptr PO's, (wise ones, lol), crack down on Themselves, And their database, (for a time), then things calm, and all slides back into complete mayham, and gross abuse by ALL THREE PARTIES once More. -MadMeikal
Representatives of SearchFeed, Kanoodle and Ah-ha do read Getpaidforum.com on a regular basis and talk with the owners of these minor search engines who use their feeds - they can't avoid knowing where their traffic is coming from, as the banning of specific PTR sites whose abuse is too blatant to go undetected shows.
The Reason, the ppc se issue is such a Hot Potato here, is because it is the SOLE Source of CASH Coming ''INTO'' This otherwise Failed business model, we call PTR, and Until the FEEDS Wake Up, the situation IS going to remain the Same. -MadMeikal
How is the fraud hidden from advertisers?
The primary way these search engines, affiliates, and PTR program owners hide what they're doing is to limit the clicks per IP to three per day per feed per search engine, to avoid suspicious amounts of traffic from any single user to your PPC advertising.
Sound convoluted? It's meant to be. This particular form of PPC fraud is a very lucrative occupation.
I always try to do at least one set of admin mail searches and my questions is, is one search really enough to help the point conversion, or do I really need to keep clicking till I'm not allowed to search any more? I know every little bit helps, but does it really help that much? - Ainthere
1 search on admin is not enough to have any affect. You should do at least 1 on the advertisers searches and 2 on admin for it to have any noticable effect.
- Carole Stacey, Paid-to-Read program owner
"Incentivized" clicking, or rewarding people to click on PPC adverts is against the terms of almost all search engines. Not that that stops anyone in the world of Paid-to-Read.
I think it's extremely low to report the webmaster to their search engines or other places trying to take the program down. That doesn't just get the webmaster; it also gets all the members who're still happy with the program and who want to reach payout. -Manthyra
What does this mean to you?
You are being ripped off by the feeds, farming their PPC results out to smaller engines, who sign up affiliates who in turn go to these PTR programs to advertise their search affiliate pages in the expectation of PTR members performing valid searches.
Without a detailed look at the books of the feeds I can't give you an exact number, but an extremely conservative estimate of traffic coming from these "search affiliate advertisers" is upwards of 8 million fradulent clicks per month - based on one search per member per program per month, with the member being in an average of 25 programs. Let's up the ante just a little bit. Assume each member performs one valid search per program 20 days a month, and that's over 60 million searches per month. And we're still in very conservative territory here.
Given the costs of the feeds, that's $5,000,000 US - at the very least - of your advertising dollars. Every month. Lost in Paid-to-Read click fraud. And that's the most conservative estimate I could come up with, based on members making one search per program per month. Realistically I think that number is a lot higher. Someone's making a lot of money from your PPC budget. What a pity it isn't you.
That's where your PPC advertising budget is going. Straight into someone elses pocket - with no chance of your making a sale.
??ystein Halseth Lund
http://www.marketingcynic.com/www.stopclickfraud.com
Stefanie Olsen, Special to ZDNet
November 23, 2004
Google filed a lawsuit against an Internet operation that it claims systematically clicked on text ads to defraud its advertising network.
The case, filed November 15 in the Superior Court of Santa Clara County in California, is among the first civil lawsuits to relate to click fraud. The lawsuit charges that Texas-based Auctions Expert International signed up to display Google's targeted text advertising on its Web site, and then fraudulently clicked on the ads to profit from its pay-per-click system.
Google and others are under scrutiny as advertisers grow concerned about phony clicks."Because advertisers pay Google for each click on their advertisements, Google strives to ensure that each click is generated by a user legitimately interested in accessing the site being advertised," according to the complaint.
"Defendants...flagrantly abused (Google's service) by artificially and/or fraudulently generating ad clicks," the filing says. "These clicks were worthless to advertisers, but generated significant and unjust revenue for defendants."
Mountain View, California-based Google did not say how much money was lost, but the company is seeking compensatory and punitive damages to be determined at trial.
As old as Internet advertising itself, click fraud is the practice of inflating traffic to advertisements or Web sites for profit. It has proliferated as Google, Overture Services and others have built multibillion-dollar, pay-per-click ad services that pair sponsored listings with related search results. With each click of a sponsored text link, they collect fees from advertisers, and then often share that revenue with publishing partners that display those ads.
The fraud is perpetrated in both automated and human ways. The most common method is the use of online robots, or "bots," programmed to click on advertisers' links that are displayed on Web sites or listed in search queries. A growing alternative employs low-cost workers who are hired in China, India and other countries to click on text links and other ads. A third form of fraud takes place when employees of companies click on rivals' ads to deplete their marketing budgets and skew search results.
According to Google's complaint, Auctions Expert erected its Web site and signed up for its Adsense programs with the sole intention of generating false clicks and collecting advertiser fees.
Click fraud is a 600-pound elephant in the room of the search-advertising market, the fastest-growing sector of online advertising. While no one is certain of how much money is generated fraudulently, some executives in the industry estimate losses account for 5 percent to 20 percent of total sales. Some suspect the problem is growing, too, as Google, Overture and others syndicate their ads to small or international publishers that can be hard to police.
Unlike advertising in traditional media such as billboards and print publications, "cost per click" Internet ads displayed with specific keyword searches have been promoted as a definitive way for companies to gauge their exposure to potential customers. As a result, U.S. sales from advertiser-paid search results are expected to grow 25 percent this year to US$3.2 billion, up from US$2.5 billion in 2003, according to research firm eMarketer. From 2002 to 2003, the market rose by 175 percent.
Google spokesman Steve Langdon confirmed the lawsuit and said the company is vigilant in protecting its advertisers and the integrity of its programs.
"We have sophisticated technology that detects and eliminates fraud," Langdon said. "This lawsuit against Auctions Expert demonstrates the success of our antifraud system and that we will take legal action when appropriate."
Still, at least one marketing executive said the lawsuit is proof that Google's fraud detection technology is not as foolproof as it would like advertisers to believe.
"We know Google doesn't need to seek funds," said Jessie Stricchiola, president of Alchemist Media, a search-engine marketing firm based in Los Angeles.
"This is a politically strategic move in the industry to show that Google's protecting its advertisers. But that could be a distraction from the glaring truth that its high-end technology doesn't protect advertisers as much as it should," Stricchiola said.
Earlier this year, Google's service was at the center of a criminal case related to click fraud. A California man created a software program that he claimed could let spammers bilk Google out of millions of dollars in fraudulent clicks. Authorities said he was arrested while trying to blackmail Google for US$150,000 to hand over the program. He was indicted by a California jury last June.
The current suit names Auctions Expert International and its owners Sergio Morfin and Alexei Leonov as perpetrators of click fraud and of breach of contract with Google Adsense Online's terms of service. However, Google said in the suit that it does not know the true identities of the defendants. It said it will amend the suit once their identities are known.
Auctions Expert's Web site was inaccessible Monday.
David Kramer, a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati who represents Google, said the suit should be a warning shot to other rogue operators.
"It sends a message to people participating in Google's advertising network that just because it's online, it doesn't make it OK to commit fraud," Kramer said.
:begin rant:
First off, I now despise Google.
Google is the worst of all the search engines and I can't believe anyone would bother using them. If you type in a keyword, the same old web sites come up month after month after month. It's a self fulfilling prophesy at this point. If you are a web site that is listed in the top 10-20, you will remain in there forever because when the media looks for web sites to write articles on a particular industry they will always use those that pop up first. Therefore, more links in news articles and therefore cementing that web site at the top.
You can bypass Google's search index and pay for a placement via Google adwords. I recommend that anyone who is in a highly competitive area to steer away from Google adwords. I spent almost $20,000 in adwords in 2004 and just about broke even. Although Google will not admit it, people are cheating that system and the ultimate person that pays for it is the web site owner who placed the ad. Everytime someone clicks on an ad, there is a charge for that click. Your competitors can be clicking your ad and having all their friends click through to your ad and charging up your balance so that your balance is cleaned out and thus you are knocked off the list.
Google says they have fraud protection in place, well I doubt that very much. If there are 10 competitors or a bunch of sites using Adsense and they are all clicking your ad to either fuck you over or take your cash, there is no way google can know about it. I don't buy it.
I was getting an extremely low success rate on click throughs using Google adwords. I also noticed that no one in my key word realm ever uses google adwords for more than a few months. A new set of suckers will appear to fill up the spots after a few months and the same 10 web sites appear in the top for free every month - never fails.
To make matters worse, even after paying google $20,000 in advertising costs, my store doesn't appear anywhere in Google's search results. So somewhere I got penalized for perhaps even using adwords. Who knows, maybe they purposely penalize web sites so that you end up using their services. What a fucking a scam. I have about 200 links going to my store, a web site front page mostly made from text, an SEO software that analyzes my page, and I spent countless hours trying to improve my pages...I am no where to be found in Google.
I have been offered services which will "guarantee" me a top listing on Google. Basically there are firms out there that will artificially generate high link counts and create all other stuff to get you a high ranking. In other words, artificially getting you to the top. If this is the path one has to pursue to get on Google's front pages for a particular keyword, then Google's entire directory is a sham. I doubt there are too many web sites that have more content than mine and yet I have no link to my site anywhere in Google.
At least they were nice enough to send me a $5 cheapass gift for the $20,000 I spent with them.
I wouldn't be surprised if there is a class action law suit against Google for their practices using Google adwords. I will gladly join that class action.
I posted this on their message board and one response (not from a google employee) was.... "Google doesnt owe anyone anything, they have no responsibility to list anyone's web site." .....hello dickhead....without us web sites, there would be no google. Google would just be some run of the mill link directory. So, yeah, I do matter. Luckily I am doing quite well in other search engines and also doing my best to obtain traffic WITHOUT these search engine's help.
:end rant:
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